Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-04-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Rhodes-landmark-international-monument

[02] Sports roundup

[03] Greek-Turkish-Delegations

[04] China-Greece-Presidential visit

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

[06] Greece-Visit-Clark

[07] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[08] Papandreou - Peres - Meeting

[09] Maillis-Finnish acquisition

[10] Govt spokesman-stock market

[11] ADEX-close

[12] Car registrations-March figures

[13] Building activity-1999 figures

[14] ASE-close

[15] Greek - Turkish - Delegations

[01] Rhodes-landmark-international-monument

A new "wonder" and millennium monument will be built on Rhodes harbour by 2004 according to the island's Mayor Giorgos Yiannopoulos.

The monument will draw inspiration from the "Kolossos" statue, one of the Seven Wonders, allegedly ruined 2,220 years ago.

Yiannopoulos said "It will be a landmark technical achievement for Greece and an international reference point emanating national identity messages of Greek presence in international developments."

Artists from around the world will be invited to submit their plans by the end of the 2000 summer.

[02] Sports roundup

Soccer

Olympiakos still ahead of rival Panathinaikos

Olympiakos Piraeus continued its headlong drive towards winning its fourth consecutive championship on Sunday following its easy 3-0 victory away against a mostly indifferent Paniliakos club.

The Piraeus club reached 74 points in the standings, one ahead of cross-town rival Panathinaikos. The Athens club beat on Monday afternoon at home this seasons ?Cinderella team?, third-place OFI Irakleio from Crete, 3-2.

In other action on the 28th day in the Greek first division, AEK Athens stumbled in an away game against Panahaiki in Patra, coming away with a 1-1 tie. AEK was tied in the 92nd minute of play. The rejuvenated Athens club of late reached 48 points in the standings, three behind OFI, following a disappointing start this season.

Back in Athens, historic Apollon Athens was almost certain to be relegated following its 2-1 loss by Kalamata at home. The defeat leaves Apollon tied for last place with provincial Trikala at 18 points. However, Kalamatas win turned into a mostly Pyrrhic victory, as out of seven players who saw a yellow card by the referee on Sunday five will miss the crucial next game against Olympiakos at home.

Other games included:

Panionios Athens-Kavala, 1-1; Iraklis Thessaloniki-Ionikos Piraeus, 3-2; Proodeftiki Piraeus-Trikala, 1-0 and Ethnikos Asteras Athens-Aris, 1-0, Xanthi-PAOK Thessaloniki 1-2 (played on Monday).

[03] Greek-Turkish-Delegations

The second round of talks between Greek and Turkish Foreign Ministry delegations in the framework of bilateral cooperation on issues concerning the European Union came to a close late on Monday.

Greek Foreign Ministry sources said the talks focused on Greece's contribution to the process of Turkey's adjustment to European established practice, cooperation between the two countries on various EU programmes and general developments in the EU, with emphasis on the course of enlargement, institutional reforms and the Intergovernmental Conference.

The sources said the talks were held in "a very positive climate" and resulted in many proposals being specified in the framework presented by Greece. The next meeting between the two delegations will take place in Ankara on May 17-18.

[04] China-Greece-Presidential visit

The President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin is scheduled to arrive in Greece on Friday for a four-day visit at the invitation of Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos.

Following his arrival and reception by Stephanopoulos, Zemin is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who will also hold a dinner in honor of Zemin on Saturday evening.

[05] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

Following are indicative foreign exchange rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Tuesday's rates (buying)

Euro 332.667

U.S. dollar 346.644

[06] Greece-Visit-Clark

Europe's Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, who started a two-day farewell visit to Greece on Monday, held a courtesy meeting with the National Defence Ministry's civil and military leadership and was received by the President of the Republic. Clark will be replaced by Commander Rolston on May 3.

[07] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Tuesday, turning to rain in the southern Peloponnese, Crete and the Dodecanese islands.

[08] Papandreou - Peres - Meeting

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou received former Israeli premier Shimon Peres in Athens on Monday, with talks centering on the ongoing Mideast peace talks and the situation throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

Peres, the current minister of regional cooperation in the Ehud Barak government, arrived in Athens this week to participate as a keynote speaker in a round-table discussion organised by the ?Economist?, entitled ?Reconstruction, Development and Security in SE Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean?.

Papandreou briefed Peres over recent developments in the Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish relations, while reiterating that Athens is ready to contribute in any way it can to the Middle East peace process -- a direct reference to several conferences the Greek government has sponsored over the past years near the capital to bring together Israeli and Palestinian opinion-makers and personalities.

On his part, the veteran Israeli Labour leader underlined that ?Greek-Israeli bilateral relations have been improving for some time now, reaching their highest level in the present.? He also congratulated Papandreou on his landslide re-election from Athens' first election district in the April 9 general election.

Peres is also scheduled to be received by Greek President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos later in the day. In the morning, he met with Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos.

The visit marks the former premiers third to Greece over the last year and a half.

[09] Maillis-Finnish acquisition

M.I.Maillis SA, a listed packaging company, on Monday announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Finland's Oy Astrap AB.

The Finnish company, with its wholly-owned Swedish subsidiary Astrap AB, operate an extended sales network in the two Nordic countries and plan expansion in the Baltic region. Among their biggest clients are Outokumpi, Assi, Domain, Nokia.

Maillis is in the process of a share capital increase plan approved by an extraordinary sharesholders' meeting in December 15, 1999.

[10] Govt spokesman-stock market

The Greek stock market's decline could not be decoupled for a turmoil in international markets, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Monday.

He noted, however, that Greek economic prospects were positive and justified a medium- and long-term advance in the stock market.

Reppas said the government firmly believed that the stock market was an autonomous institution that operated on its own rules, but stressed that the government was determined to increase the market's institutional safeguards.

[11] ADEX-close

Derivatives prices ended sharply lower on the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Monday reflecting a free-fall in the two benchmark indices, FTSE/ASE 20 and FTSE/ASE 40.

Trade was brisk with a total of 3,566 futures contracts changing hands, worth 11.6 billion drachmas.

A total of 1,900 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index, with a turnover of 8.2 billion drachmas. The April expiring contract ended at 2,215 points, the May at 2,224 and the June contract at 2,250 points.

A total of 1,666 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, with a turnover of 3.4 billion drachmas. The April and the May expiring contract ended at 521 points, the June at 533,50 and the September contract at 535 points.

[12] Car registrations-March figures

Car registrations in Greece totalled 37,825 vehicles, new and used, in March, of which 33,166 were cars and 4,659 motorcycles.

The March figures were up 12.8 percent compared with the same month in 1999.

[13] Building activity-1999 figures

Greece's private building activity fell 8.3 percent last year compared with 1998, official figures showed on Monday.

The drop reflected mainly a 9.0 percent fall in building activity in the rest of the country. Activity in the Attica prefect fell 6.4 percent in 1999.

[14] ASE-close

Equity prices suffered their biggest decline ever on the Athens Stock Exchange on Monday, hit by panic selling of stocks in international markets.

Dealers said investors worldwide fled riskier stocks for the safety of bonds and gold, a move that hit mainly Wall Street and Asian markets. They noted, however, that the impact on the Greek bourse was heavier because of the negative sentiment currently prevailing in the market.

Private investors were particularly active following a week of selling by institutional investors, domestic and foreign.

The general index plunged 9.17 percent to 4,064.85 points, near its day's lows. Turnover was a moderate 145 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,301.02 points, off 9.16 percent while the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 9.30 percent to 548.62 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 721.93 points, down 9.86 percent.

[15] Greek - Turkish - Delegations

Delegations from both the Greek and Turkish foreign ministries met in Athens on Monday to discuss matters related to EU programmes.

Talks will conclude on Tuesday, with the issue of Athens' assistance to Ankara for the latter's harmonisation with the bloc's acquis communautaire and other 'Euro developments' to be discussed.

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